A Challenge to Candidates and Voters on Abortion

Fr. Frank PavoneNational Director, Priests for Life

September 07, 2012

At the Democratic convention, many prominent supporters of abortion spoke in favor of its legality. But you will look in vain for a single sentence in which any of them dared to describe the procedure.

I am calling upon all of us to challenge candidates and voters of every party to bring the tragedy of abortion to the center of their election decisions. The teachings of the Holy Father and of the bishops constantly point out that not all moral and life issues are equal. “Abortion necessarily plays a central role,” the bishops state (A Campaign In Support of Life, 2001).

Yet it is not because the bishops teach it that we declare the centrality of abortion. It’s simply because of what it is. It is not looking at a Church document that convinces us of the urgency of ending abortion. It’s simply looking at abortion.

Yet that is exactly what so many of its supporters do not want to do.

How many of them will admit what abortion is? None!

How many will quote from abortionist Warren Hern's medical textbook Abortion Practice which describes the procedure as "dismemberment" and "decapitation"? None!

How many will dare read from the testimonies of abortionists in court, in which they describe how the arms and legs of the baby are ripped off and the head removed in pieces? None!

That's why the most important challenge we can give to the Democratic party and in fact to all candidates of all parties is to confront them with these facts and ask one simple question: When you say the word "abortion," is this what you mean?

What the abortion supporter says in response does not matter. The goal is accomplished: what that person stands for has been revealed, both to that person and to all who listen.

Let’s press the question; let’s raise the challenge. If a public official, or one seeking public office, has a position on abortion, one should expect that he or she knows what the word means. If they expect public policy to permit abortion, or taxpayers to fund it, they should certainly be willing to describe what it is.

Because the words used are those of the abortionists themselves, we do not have to worry about coming up with clever arguments of our own. And because this challenge simply asks what they mean by the word, the burden is on those we challenge, not on us, to give a response.

Along with the quotes, let's use diagrams of the abortion procedure, as well as the gruesome photos of what an abortion is.

All this and more is available at our special website, Unborn.info.

Together, we are called to expose evil and to call on public servants to know the difference between serving the public and killing the public.